Fire at loss with 6th tie

Winless season-opening run up to 7 as club finishes in 1-1 deadlock with Revolution

April 19, 2014|By Jack McCarthy, Special to the Tribune

Yet another tie has left the Fire feeling hollow.

Saturday's 1-1 deadlock with the Revolution before a crowd of 15,743 at Toyota Park was the sixth straight for the Fire (0-1-6, 6 points), now mired in ninth place in the MLS Eastern Conference.

It matched a league record for consecutive ties while extending the Fire's winless season-opening run to a team-record seven games.

"It's very, very disappointing," Fire coach Frank Yallop said. "The team kept going, fighting and that's good, but it really feels empty because we have put a lot of effort in and you don't get rewarded.

"We played pretty well, created some good chances and had another chance to win it in the last nine seconds and we didn't win. … We deserved to win."

The result was costly for team scoring leader Quincy Amarikwa, named man of the match for scoring his fourth goal, as he was ejected late in the game with a second yellow card after a clip in the 73rd minute. He will be suspended for the Fire's May 3 home match against Real Salt Lake.

The Fire played the final 17 minutes without him but still nearly punched in a game-winner in the 90th minute with a three-shot flurry and a red card ejection issued to Revolution defender Kevin Alston.

That led to a penalty kick for forward Juan Luis Anangono that New England goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth stopped.

"Taking a penalty kick late in the game is part of winning," Yallop said. "You have to be able to do that."

Fire captain Jeff Larentowicz said taking the penalty kick should not have been Anangono's call.

"Juan steps up and grabs the ball, that's what happened," Larentowicz said. "As captain and as one who has made a penalty (kick) this year, I should take the ball and take (kick). That's on me, not Juan."

Anangono said through a translator that it was "the worst penalty kick I've had in my career."

In the first half a sprinting Amarikwa took a feed from midfielder Harry Shipp, stayed a half-step ahead of one defender and eluded another closing in as he fired by the onrushing Shuttleworth in the 16th minute.

New England tied in the 31st minute as midfielder Lee Nguyen lined a successful penalty kick past Fire goalkeeper Sean Johnson. The Revolution earned the kick when Fire defender Patrick Nyarko became entangled with Alston in the box.